Andy’s a little guy, but don’t think he is a pussycat when Dougy steps outside well-defined kitty territorial lines! Yet he did just that.

It’s obvious to all Andy claims not only the empty box here, but the over-turned wastepaper basket, too: “MINE!”

Yet even Andy has to take a break. So, despite Dougy’s presence in the room, Andy goes for a drink of water at the fountain. It won’t take long, he figures.

Andy out of the way, Dougy snoops at the box and makes plans to scrunch into it as best he can…! There’s a saying: “When the cat’s away the…” Oh no, that was mice, not cat brothers! Never mind!

“No! No! No!” says Andy. Dougy gets caught in mid-snoop.

This won’t do! He gives Doug the “Screaming Mad Stink Eye that Makes Fur Fall Off Your Tail and Your Whiskers Take Off and Run” look all cats know is serious business. And Dougy knows it is serious business. Dougy heads on out, pronto!

Whew! Dougy got away with it this time, but only because he heeded Andy’s message. AND, though the magazines by the computer desk also are Andy’s, Andy can’t be both there and over at the box and wastepaper basket, too. Dougy plays his cards well!

One eye on Dougy and the other on the box, Andy verifies all is how he left it. Dougy gets away with the magazine matter this time !

Dougy once again finds out Andy is a tough little bugger when it comes to HIS things!

Must be time to feed the kitties. When I got up this morning — that is, when the cats got me up…– they both had innocent looks on their chops and all the wastepaper baskets were tipped over and rummaged through. They are not subtle!

Blogger Yvonne, for those unfamiliar with her work, does a blog featuring her experiences living in Venice.

Her insights and in-depth enthusiasm for the minutiae of life there makes for lively, informative, interesting reading. Her photos are an added bonus because they transcend that old tourist variety one might expect for such a famous touristy city. Thanks to Yvonne, you start to think of Venetians are citizens of a real place, not some Disney World recreation, all tarted up for the tourist trade.

Yvonne dates her obsession with Venice back to 1980. (Some of her early photos….)

I like Yvonne’s blog a lot, being one of those people who loves Italy but was never fortunate enough to make it closer to Venice than Pordenone. (Ugh! Almost there! Almost!) I invite you to take a look!

So, it was frustrating to me to see my name on a list of bloggers Yvonne listed after someone nominated her for a blog award: I don’t do awards! The exchange between us follows:

Uh oh…!

I want to be nice about it because I appreciate the thought. Really!

Graciousness abounding!

Yet I feel I owe Yvonne more than a lame explanation, so I write a…lame explanation! [Cringe!]

This brings up a blog issue I never feel comfortable handling. No matter how I feel about these awards, when someone thinks enough of my little cat blog to encourage others to take a look at it, there should be a graceful, polite way to handle it without getting into maths. Or lame explanations…!

How about you? If you’re nominated for a blog award, what do you do? How do you feel about it? Do you check out blogs others nominate and (maybe) subscribe to some of them based on your inspection? Are you pleased or not pleased when your name appears on a list? If nominated, do you follow the standard instructions to thank the nominator, nominate x more blogs, and tell x number of things about yourself?